Thursday, December 24, 2009

My response to the William Daley @ The Washington Post...

William Daley of the Washington Post wrote an article that I took some exception to...

The link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/23/AR2009122302439.html

Here was my comment:

Mr. Daley is correct in his observation that no side in any political system has a monopoly on good ideas. Where I believe he is mistaken is in his observation that the Republicans have been captured by their own radical fringe and that the Democrats have only to moderate their position. The Democrats presently in power are not Clintonians; they are extremists. They can't ‘moderate’.... It isn't in them.

Clinton was enough of a realist to moderate is position, thus stay 2 terms and be seen as "successful". Pelosi, Reed, Obama and their sycophants are ideologically incapable of making the changes necessary as Clinton once did. When Clinton tried to nationalize the healthcare delivery system in the early 90's he was excoriated and the plan shelved. Obama and his minions have made huge attempts to pass extremely leftist programs like ‘Cap and Trade’ and the so-called healthcare reform bill that just passed the Senate and faces conference committee review.

How did we end up where we are now? Republicans have fielded weak candidates and have not articulated strong conservative economic or fiscal plans. Their managing of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq has been disjointed and poor, even if well intentioned. The Democrats came to power due to that poorly executed war policy and seemingly lackluster response to the economic problems that were beginning to come to light in 2007 and 2008. That protest vote brought charismatic radical leftists to power.

Conservative Republicans, who were generally ignored by the ‘Neo-cons’ who took control of the Republican Party after the Bush defeat in 1991, have now begun to reassert control of the party. This is best seen in the resurgent rise of Reaganesque Conservatives who are made up partly of conservative Democrats, who are fiscally conservative and who resent the massive debt Obama has run up and the radical nature of a majority of his policies; Independents who have seen the debt rise and unemployment swell nearly 3% in 11 months and no apparent plan to correct the job losses; and the more traditional conservative Republican elements who make up what is being called the "Tea Party" conservatives, who are livid at the massive debt, loss of jobs, fall of the dollar, and the seeming lack of assertive leadership when it is needed most. They resent the Obama ‘Apology Tours’ and the chummy behavior towards the likes of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and Daniel Ortega and the kowtowing to foreign potentates. They also resent the damage the neo-cons did to the party during the Bush II years and want to return to a more Reagan-like conservatism that seemed to them the best option for the country. They especially want tax relief for small business and reduction of the tax burden on those who carry a majority of the burden as key to stimulate the economy. There are even those who advocate a removal of the regressive personal and corporate income tax; a repeal of the 16th Amendment, and the establishment of the so-called ‘Fair Tax’, which would spur an immediate economic and business revival.

Mr. Daley is also incorrect in his assessment that the extreme liberal wing need only come up with a better way to sell their position to the American People...that they not surrender or in any way concede defeat in the wake of the rising tide of anger and vitriol. The problem with that opinion is that when surveyed, most Americans are conservative in their positions. Even abortion, the great litmus test of the left and the right, is less popular according to recent polls. What most leftist don’t understand is that what the “New Right” wants is a return to constitutional government, a more lawful and less radical, activist government. They have seen what the Obama Cabal has in store for the nation and are revolted and even frightened by that agenda. No amount of consoling or creative wordsmithing is going to sell a majority of the American people that multi-trillion dollar budgets and ever-mounting debt and confiscatory taxation or nationalized healthcare, or increasingly intrusive and extra constitutional activities is a good thing. Increasing debt ceilings, printing dollars by the billions, and borrowing cash from our adversaries to fund even more programs is a recipe for disaster, and every intelligent person knows it....except the Liberal Congress and Obama.

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